Columbia wins pitching duel over Palm Beach Gardens

By Edward AschoffCorrespondent

Tuesday

Mar 30, 2010 at 11:50 PM

For all the hype surrounding Lake City Columbia shortstop Jacob Tillotson, he certainly lived up to it Tuesday night.

For all the hype surrounding Lake City Columbia shortstop Jacob Tillotson, he certainly lived up to it Tuesday night.With a pitching duel frustrating both offenses, Tillotson, a University of Florida signee, delivered the lone run with a single in the bottom of the third inning to inch his Tigers (13-4) past Palm Beach Gardens (9-7) 1-0 on Bobcat Field at Buchholz High.Tillotson’s heroics sealed the game, but it was pitching that had all the right stuff early. Both teams combined for four strikeouts, caught two stealing, had a pickoff and allowed just four hits through the first two innings.Palm Beach Gardens senior right-hander Jim Tornabene had Tigers’ batters, including Tillotson, whiffing early as he struck out two in the bottom of the first. Columbia sophomore lefty Kellan Bailey gave up a few hits early, but with a strikeout and some solid defense behind him, the Tigers matched Tonrnabene’s solid start.Things changed in the third as Tornabene walked his first two batters and then plunked the third. After a fielder’s choice to home drew the first out, Tillotson came to the plate looking for redemption after Tornabene’s fastball struck him out in the first. Expecting another heater, Tillotson hit a sharp line-drive to center, scoring designated hitter Cody Blackwell for the 1-0 lead.“I was just trying to hit the ball, get those guys in,” Tillotson said.The pitching resumed its stranglehold from there. Though Bailey gave up six hits before moving over to first to begin the sixth, he finished with three strikeouts and no runs to earn the win.Tornabene threw even better after his shaky third. Registering three strikeouts before Tillotson’s RBI single, Tornabene went six innings, striking out nine and allowed just three hits in the losing effort. “He’s one of if not the best pitchers we’ve faced this year,” Columbia coach Greg Gillman said of Tornabene.The Gators, who left four runners on through the first five innings, had a chance to tie the game in the sixth. Columbia’s Brandon Scott moved from first to the mound and promptly walked center fielder Christian Cancio on four pitches. Cancio moved to second off a fielder’s choice and tagged up to third off a sacrifice fly.With two outs and Cancio 90 feet from home, Gators left fielder Brandon Welch killed the dramatics with an inning-ending pop up to Tillotson.“We’re pretty solid defensively, and that’s the main thing we try to tell our pitchers,” Gillman said. “Every pitch doesn’t have to be perfect (his defense) just makes plays behind them and that’s what we did tonight.”

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